The Aston Martin Valkyrie is over halfway through its first IMSA race, and so far, the team has put in a strong effort given the circumstances and situation they are in.

With the debut of a new car and drivers inexperienced in prototype racing, there are many moving pieces involved in the early stages of this brand-new LMH program.

Although the Valkyrie hasn’t shown to be in contention for a podium run, Heart of Racing, Aston Martin, and the team appear happy with where they stand.

“I would say nothing has come up as a surprise so far in the first four hours,” Head of Endurance Adam Carter said to the media. “There’s, as always, pretty much every car on the list there, they’ll be managing something. Nobody’s, nobody’s ever happy and running pretty. So, there’s bits we’re monitoring, managing, and constantly working with the drivers to adapt and try and get more out of the cars as we go.”

For the new Valkyrie program, the first two races of the season presented an intriguing challenge when the schedule of events was announced.

While the two opening circuits are significantly challenging and different, this is simply how things played out for the program.

“It’s the way we have to start the programme, so it is what it is,” Carter said to the media. “So, it’s, my whole view on life is, it is what it is, we are where we are, it’s what you do next. And that’s how I approach all of our programmes, all of our engineering, is you look at what the challenge is and you adapt to them. So, yes, they’re very different requirements, but they’re the requirements that we have to work with.”

When it comes to preparation for Sebring, testing at the circuit and having two endurance-formatted races may have been beneficial.

Given the difficulty of the circuit and the toll it takes on the car, it truly provides a blueprint to build upon for other races.

“Your point there is, right, in terms of chassis loading, etc. Here, it’s unique, but it’s a great chassis dyno. In terms of the engine, the demands of Mulsanne straight create a different requirement, but that requirement is, let’s say, slightly less transient, and therefore dyno work, etc., is more relevant, but for us, the endurance that you prove here, I think it’s well known in the industry, if you are reliable here, then it puts you in a good step to go forward. We’ve based a lot of our durability work around here, and we will continue to do durability work here in the coming time. We will do an extension test here. We’ve done an endurance test, but not a 24-hour one. So, we will continue to run the car on.”